Jack Cannon's American Destiny

Rachel Thompson

Saturday, September 27, 2014

It
was already a bad day when I read her review, only half paying
attention to the words, because it was 6 am, and I had not slept well. I
got a full three sentences in before I realized, "Wow, this lady really
hated my memoir." Not only is she trashing my writing, she's trashing
me, and not so subtly accusing me of lying. She suggested not everything
in my memoir really happened to me. Despite the good reviews that had
been rolling in, as a first time indie author, I could not stop thinking
about this lady who hated my book. I knew I shouldn't care. I knew as
an artist I put my work out there and welcome good and bad feedback. Art
is subjective. I know that. But still my mind obsessed. If my book had
been fiction maybe her review would be easier to take. She thinks my
heroine sucks - no problem. But this was a memoir. She was basically
saying "you're worthless, your story is worthless and you should have
written it in a diary and kept it to yourself." Ouch. I googled how to
deal with bad reviews. I visited sites that list all the horrible
reviews that famous, award winning books received. I laughed and felt in
very good company ... but only slightly. I was not a famous writer. I’m
guessing bad reviews don't hurt as much when you're sitting on a pile
of money and holding your Pulitzer Prize. I considered writing her
back. I know this is a huge no-no. I found myself reduced to age 11 and
wanted to say horrible and childish things to her. I came up with many
creative insults, but I kept them to myself.

It
took a few days for me to cool down and begin to see the bigger
picture. I finally got my "aha" moment as people like to say. This
lady's review actually could be a huge gift. Huge! I should actually be
thanking her. I have struggled all my life with people pleasing and
holding my self-expression back to fit in and be liked. I learned from a
young age to read people and give them what they wanted, what would
make them happy. I've been aware of my accommodating tendencies for
decades, but breaking out of them has been a challenge. The more I
relaxed and let go of my anger, the more I smiled when I thought of this
book-hating lady and her nasty review. Someone doesn't like me or my
book. Big f-ing deal. My world didn't shatter. I didn’t stop breathing.
In fact, nothing happened. There is nothing wrong with hating someone's
memoir, and there is no crime in sharing in vivid detail your feelings
in a book review. I even began to smile at how much she must dislike me
to take the time to write that particular review.

The
real problem here is not the review or the fact that I got upset. The
real problem is when I or when any writer, artist or human chooses to
stay silent, to not play the game of expressing what is inside that
screams to come out, just because we are afraid we won't be liked or
accepted. The world does not need any more people like that. The world
needs bold artists whose desire to express and create is way bigger than
their fears of how their work will be received. I am happy and proud to
say I am one of those artists. And this bad review helped me to realize
that.

I
leave you with one tip for dealing with bad reviews. When all else
fails, get a copy of the Frozen soundtrack, crank up Let It Go and belt
it out along with Idina Menzel ...

Let it go, let it go

And I'll rise like the break of dawn

Let it go, let it go

That perfect girl is gone!

Here I stand

In the light of day

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway!

Diagnosed
with Borderline Personality disorder, Amy struggled with depression and
an addiction to sharp objects. Even hospitalization didn't help to heal
her destructive tendencies. It took a tumultuous relationship with a
man named Truth to bring her back from the depths of her own self-made
hell.Amy's marriage to dark, intriguing Truth was both passionate and
stormy. She was a fair-skinned southern girl from New Orleans. He was a
charming black man with tribal tattoos, piercings, and a mysterious
past. They made an unlikely pair, but something clicked.
During their early marriage, they pulled themselves out of abject
poverty into wealth and financial security practically overnight. Then
things began to fall apart.

Passionate and protective, Truth also proved violent and abusive. Amy’s own
self-destructive tendencies created a powerful symmetry. His sudden
death left Amy with an intense and warring set of emotions: grief for
the loss of the man she loved, relief she was no longer a target for his
aggression.

Conflicted
and grieving, Amy found herself at a spiritual and emotional
crossroads, only to receive help from an unlikely source: Truth himself.
Feeling his otherworldly presence in her dreams, Amy seeks help from a
famous medium.Her
spiritual encounters change Amy forever. Through Truth, she learns her
soul is eternal and indestructible, a knowledge that gives Amy the
courage to pursue her own dreams and transform herself both physically
and emotionally. Her supernatural encounters help Amy resolve the
internal anger and self-destructive tendencies standing between her and
happiness, culminating in a sense of spiritual fulfillment she never
dreamed possible.An amazing true story, What Freedom Smells Like is told with courage, honesty, and a devilishly dark sense of humor.

So,
you’re pretty darn talented at writing, huh? In fact, your English
teachers and professors told you about it your whole life. You have a
superb vocabulary, a wild imagination, a flair for the dramatic, and
lots of terrific story ideas. Now it’s just a matter of bringing it all
together and writing the great American novel.

I
run across a lot of people who say, “I have a great idea for a book,
but just haven’t taken the time to sit down and write it yet.” Some of
those people may actually get it done (I know a few who have), but most
never will. Or if they start, they’ll eventually give up on the project.

Why is that?

For
starters, writing a book isn’t as easy as it may seem, especially if
it’s a full-length novel. And I don’t think anyone understands that
until they give it a try. It isn’t just a matter of pounding out the
story on one’s computer, writing page after page until the book is
finished. Oh, it’s far from that.

I’ve
written non-fiction, and while it’s not a piece of cake by any stretch,
it’s at least a methodical process. The writer starts with a known
subject, understands where the presentation needs to go from start to
finish, and creates a detailed outline to make sure all the requisite
information is included and laid out in a logical and comprehensible
fashion. Then it’s a matter of time and discipline to write each section
until the first draft is done. Then the editing process starts.

Fiction,
on the other hand, is all about creating something that doesn’t exist.
And it better be something original that no one else has ever quite
created before! Nothing is “known”, and the author has a moving target
until he or she is finished. That’s because storylines have a way of
taking their own paths, and it seems like the author is always
scrambling to keep up until finally putting a kibosh on the whole thing.

If
writing a novel were as simple as sitting down at a computer and
pounding out a story, lots of people would do it. But it’s really like
any other profession in that it involves a unique set of talents,
skills, knowledge, and brain functionality.

What
do I mean by “brain functionality”? Well, fiction-writing is both a
creative and technical process that simultaneously requires both
hemispheres of the brain. So a person who isn’t principally dominant on
either the left or right side is usually best suited for the task. Or,
at the very least, they need the ability to firmly tap into both.

On
the knowledge front, one must learn about publishing industry rules and
guidelines before starting on a novel, otherwise someone will have a
big mess to clean up. These rules and guidelines pertain to things like
first or third-person narrative, point of view (POV), dialogue, tense,
punctuation, grammatical flexibility (or lack thereof), and active
versus passive writing. A competent editor will help with all these
things, but the author should at least take a few writing courses and/or
read comprehensive books on the subject to prevent handing over a
manuscript that is so nonconforming that no one in their right mind
would touch it.

The
other important requirement for writing any full-length book is
self-discipline. It’s one thing to work on projects at the office with a
boss or client breathing down your neck. But it’s another to be at home
where no one is cracking the whip, and there are millions of other
things screaming to be done, making it oh so easy to put one’s book on
the back burner and get to it “tomorrow”. But take my word for it when I
say “tomorrow” never comes. You simply have to do it, just like going
to the gym.

This
is also where we see a major difference between fiction and
non-fiction. With fiction, one is far more likely to experience
“writer’s block” and/or having no sense of where the story is going.
That makes it even more attractive to ignore the book. It’s also easy
with fiction to lose control over one’s storyline and let it turn into a
mind-numbing nightmare, hence why I am a full believer in using an
outline and ALWAYS keeping it in sync with the book, even if I have to
stay up until 2:00am to ensure everything is lined up before I go to
bed. Otherwise, the amount of willpower it may take to deal with such a
huge, convoluted mess could be downright prohibitive.

Don’t
get me wrong. My objective here is not to discourage people from
writing novels. I just think it’s important to know what they’re getting
into. If they do, perhaps the task won’t seem so daunting.

You know what they say about happiness, right? It’s all about reality versus expectations.

Well, there you go.

Happy writing!

"James Bond Meets Fifty Shades of Grey"

Immerse yourself in the world class novels that combine action,
mystery & suspense with tantalizing and tastefully written erotica.
You’ll find all your sensibilities roused at once with Kevin Sterling’s
ultra-sexy, action-packed Jack Lazar Series.

In
this fourth action-packed thriller, Jack travels to Denmark for a
business venture, but what seems to be a textbook transaction turns into
a nightmare after he gets involved with Katarina, a vivacious Danish
girl who apparently lacks a moral compass, not to mention an off button.
After naively believing their liaison was just a random encounter, Jack
discovers she’s connected to his business deal, and there’s a dangerous
political group with skin in the game, too.

Katarina makes a convincing case of being a victim, not part of the conspiracy, but can Jack really trust her?

The
firestorm gets out of control as Jack digs deeper, unearths the
convoluted plot behind it all, and discovers that innocent people are
being heartlessly killed. He’s not only horrified by the reason why it’s
happening, but how it’s being done, and there appears to be no way to
stop it from occurring again.

Then
the scheme’s real objective emerges, launching Jack into action with
intelligence operatives to prevent it. But that’s not so easy with
assassins on Jack’s tail, forcing him to struggle for survival while
trying to prevent Katarina from getting caught in the crossfire.

Oh
the ups and downs in the life of an author. You’ve released your first
book, and finally it reaches 29,000 on the Amazon rankings. Your stomach
is doing continuous somersaults. Suddenly, the novel soars into the top
fifty books in your genre. OMG! Is there any sweeter feeling? And then
wham, it plummets to 298,000. Hang on, my friends, as we all know this
gig is an unending exciting, yet many times torturous roller coaster
ride.

Raise
your hand if you want to give up. I’m waiting … that’s what I thought.
No hands up. Once you’ve given birth to a plot, and created characters
you swear you know better than your own mother, there is no escape.
You’re hooked.

The
pitfalls, however, are many. Starting with your first novel, avoid the
dangers of being what many refer to as ‘just another indie author.’
Believe me, I’ve fallen into the pits, and will go to any length to
avoid that frightening, dark abyss again.

Do not employ a friend to be
your editor. Let me reiterate: Don’t do it! Save a friend, and avoid the
reviews that, even if the book is well edited, might come back to drive
a wedge between your friendship. Employ someone who has a proven and
successful background in editing in the genre you write. Check their
references, and ask them to edit at least one chapter before you start.
Even after all this, send that edited chapter to someone else to review
before you commit.

Do not tell another author you
will trade reviews; a five-star for a five-star. These are easily
spotted, and hold absolutely no merit. In fact, I have heard that an
overall four-star review holds more merit as readers will believe the
reviews are honest.

Neverrespond
to a bad review. Hit a pillow repeatedly, throw several glasses across
the room, or bite down a bullet as it is what it is; even if it isn’t
factual or true. Read it once and never read it again.

Do not underestimate a “street
team.” I started a street team a year ago and they are indeed “the wind
beneath my wings.” There are only fourteen of us that make up the Hush
team. And it is a hushteam.
No one shares anything we discuss, and the page is totally private. The
purpose for starting the Facebook page was duo fold; they shout out
news about my books, or book signings, or interviews, and we share what
we wouldn’t share with our regular social network friends. We value
friendship before my work. We all know, however, that if someone else
shouts out our praises, their words hold more merit.

Do not tell everyone you have
written the next greatest American novel; not even your best friend.
Humility carries more clout. You write because that’s what you do.
Period. Finish your first novel and make the next one even better
putting to use comments from reviewers, authors, friends, and even
enemies. Find two or three beta readers willing to read your book and
then compare notes. Suck in every piece of advice you hear or read and
then apply it.

Publish
your book, sit back, draw in a breath, and say, “I’m a damn good
writer. Even if I’m never well known, and at times people nail me to the
cross with reviews, I am a damn good writer.”

Soon
after Ann Ferguson and Ben Grable marry, and Ben unseals his adoption
papers, their perfect life together is torn apart, sending the couple to
opposite sides of the courtroom.

Representing
Ann, lawyer Michael J. McConaughey (Mac) feels this is the case that
could have far-reaching, judicial effects -- the one he's been waiting
for.

Opposing counsel knows this high profile case happens just once in a lifetime.

And
when the silent protest known as HUSH sweeps the nation, making
international news, the CEO of one of the top ten pharmaceutical
companies in the world plots to derail the trial that could cost his
company billions.

Critically
acclaimed literary thriller HUSH not only questions one of the most
controversial laws that has divided the nation for over four decades,
but captures a story of the far-reaching ties of family that surpasses
time and distance.

***
Hush does not have political or religious content. The story is built
around the emotions and thoughts of two people who differ in their
beliefs.

EDITORIAL
REVIEW: "Suspenseful and well-researched, this action-packed legal
thriller will take readers on a journey through the trials and
tribulations of one of the most controversial subjects in society
today."Katie French author of "The Breeders," "The Believer's," and "Eyes Ever To The Sky."

Thursday, September 18, 2014

“Oh,
no,” she wailed the moment the door opened revealing the two guards.
“The guillotine,” she cried. “It is to be today. Dear God,
dear God, have pity on my soul.”

“Oh
my dear, my dear,” Elizabeth Monroe soothed, pushing past the two
guards and rushing to Madame LaFayette’s side. She stooped down, took
the trembling woman’s hands in hers, and knelt down beside her. “No,
no; it is nothing like that. I am Elizabeth Monroe. My
husband, James, is the United States minister to France and a longtime
friend of your husband. They fought together in our revolution,” she
explained. “I have come to visit you, assure you how very concerned for
you my husband is. We are going to do all we can to help you.” She
placed her arms around the sobbing, frightened woman’s shoulders,
continuing her reassuring words in soft, flowing French.

I
stood watching from the doorway as Mistress Monroe calmed and comforted
Adrienne LaFayette. Disregarding the filthy surroundings, Mistress
Monroe continued to crouch down before the distraught woman, holding her
hands as she spoke. When at last she rose, she drew Madame LaFayette to
her feet and embraced her.

“Merci
beaucoup, thank you for coming,” Adrienne LaFayette whispered, wiping
her eyes. “I was sure they had come to take me to the guillotine. I was
so very frightened. My family is all gone. I thought for sure they had
come for me too,” she said, fighting back the tears.

“Of
course you did, my dear, but have courage. Be assured that James will
do all he can for you,” Mistress Elizabeth promised, patting her gently
on the shoulder before joining me at the door. “We must go now, Jasmine,
get back to the Folie as soon as possible. We must tell James of this
poor woman’s deplorable state.”

She
glided gracefully back down the long dingy, hall, past the guards to
the prison door, where Michael was waiting to escort us safely back to
the carriage.

As a novelist, I draw on many real life experiences toprovide
background for my books. After completing studies in Literature and
History at Occidental College, I became a staff writer on a travel
magazine, and throughout my career I have traveled extensively all over
the world. Because
I love horses, I owned and trained them. I support horse rescue and
wild mustang preservation. Based on my experience with horses and my
research on abuse issues, I wrote Pegasus.

As
a descendant of James Monroe, I did extensive research at the James
Monroe Museum in Virginia about him and his wife Elizabeth Kortright
Monroe. I also visited their home, Ashlawn/Highland in Albemarle County.
This resulted in my novel, The Beautiful American. Making Wishes, was based partly on my experiences as creator, owner and operator of a greeting card company.

Elloree
Prince is an attractive, creative young woman who marries a wealthy
businessman, Tom Randall. After courting his bride with unrelenting
determination, Tom moves her into old-moneyed Oak View, where
generations of Randalls have lived for years. Outwardly, Elloree appears
to settle into raising their two sons within Oak View's stifling social
structure, but inwardly, she yearns for her artistic work.

An
unexpected phone call from Mark Williams, her former employer, offers
her the career opportunity of a lifetime, and she must make a choice.
She is torn between her devotion to her sons and her love for her work.
Her decision to return to Wishes, Inc. brings dramatic life changes to
her and the people she loves.

"Abby
Long is thrilled when she offers the winning bid for an antique desk at
an auction. With its intricately inlaid woods and elegant style, the
desk is perfect for Abby; it is the gift she promised herself to finally
celebrate her thriving antique business. She has no idea that the
antique desk holds a secret that will lead her on a fascinating,
life-changing journey back in time.

When
Abby discovers a hidden diary stuffed inside a secret compartment in
the desk, she can hardly wait to read the spidery, faded script. As she
carefully turns the tattered pages, she reads the captivating story of
two remarkable women from opposite backgrounds who somehow manage to
form an unforgettable bond against the backdrop of a fledgling America
struggling to find its place in the world. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe,
the wife of James Monroe, and Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an
extraordinary relationship as they are united by pivotal historic
events, political intrigues, and personal tragedies.

From
a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied, starving streets of
post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two
courageous women from the past as they quietly influence—and inspire—a
woman of today’s world."

Widowed
at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal
abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston
Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to
her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from
slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious
background. Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads
them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue.

Action
packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader to a
race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a gripping
tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the interest
and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together with
real-life issues to create a fast-paced irresistible story.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

The
difficulty in fiction writing is to come up with a plot that keeps the
reader on the edge of his or her seat. In non-fiction writing, the plot
is already in place - at least it is in case of a memoir.

So
the difficulty in non-fiction writing lies not so much in the
organization of it all, but in helping the reader to feel passionately
about the story. In the case of memoir, it cannot simply be about
telling the story as it happened. That is more of a diary entry than a
memoir. The author has to approach the events from a bird’s eye view and
guide the reader to a place where they can process the events and make
sense of them, and even be moved by what occurred. I followed this
process throughout the book, often using the beginning and/or end of
each chapter to step out of the story and explore the signification of
what was happening.

It
helps to get down the facts first. Let me give you a concrete example.
The following is the first draft of my opening chapter, that had been
edited for mistakes, and which I felt was good enough to send to my beta
readers:

My
story begins in Avignon, which seems like the perfect place to start.
Our family is staying in the Alpilles of Provence this week, and today I
walked the broad cobblestone streets towards the plaza of the Palais
des Papes for the first time in 23 years.

I
kept holding off from taking pictures, confident that I would stumble
upon that special square or shop or street that would unleash all my
memories. I kept looking around for something to hold onto that would
bring me full circle from where I came from to where I am now, but two
decades soften the details. Time shrouds in foreignness what was once a
significant city to me.

I
was 19 and studying abroad my junior year. I walked along the country
road from the small town center, which was a suburb outside of Avignon -
grateful for once, that I lived so far outside of the city. The sky was
such a deep blue and the leaves on the tall trees such a brilliant gold
that the sight begged for me to pause and soak it in. The Fall colors
last much longer here than they would in Paris or New York, and it was
already November with hardly any bare branches on the trees. I stepped
off the bus alone, as my roommate had decided to linger a bit in the
city on this particular day. On my right side was a small hill with
sheep grazing, and to the left of me was a field with a perfectly
straight row of tall trees in the middle, dividing the space in two.

This
first draft wasn’t . . . bad, but it wasn’t exceptional either. There
were a few platitudes and it was missing the magic element that would
transport the reader.

Fortunately I was able to profit from a good friend’s wisdom to understand this. This is how it reads now.

I
was destined to take root in France. I know that now, even if I didn’t
know it back when I had the dream. This path was ordained for me as
surely as my brown hair and green eyes, my ample flesh set on an
Anglican frame. My path was ordained for me as surely as yours was, even
if it’s just a whispered promise from a distant dream.

Of
course it’s only now, mid-journey, that everything starts to form a
picture that resembles something—the rich-hued threads of identity woven
together, the nearly forgotten events tied in tiny silk knots—all this
has transformed itself into a tapestry of a story, almost without my
perceiving it.

My
journey begins in Avignon, on the bare fringes of adulthood. It seems
fitting, somehow, that my story would start in a place that was both the
beginning of a path taken and the source of closure—the healing of a
wound that had been gouged out by grief. It wasn’t with any set purpose
that I returned to Provence in the time of my sadness, but our family’s
visit there collided in sharp contrast—who I had been, with who I was
now—the hope with the loss, with the hope again. And it was with this
sense of heightened awareness that I walked down the broad cobblestone
streets towards the Pope’s palace in Avignon for the first time in
twenty-three years.

I
kept holding off from taking pictures, confident that I would stumble
upon that special square or shop or street that would unleash all the
memories from a period I now regard as a turning point. I kept looking
around for something to hold onto that would bring me full circle, but
two decades soften the details. Time shrouds in foreignness what was
once a significant city to me.

I
was nineteen when I landed on French soil for the first time, shedding
everything that was familiar and comfortable in my decision to study
abroad junior year. And in the strangeness that had given way to daily
habit, I stepped off the city bus in the small town center of Montfavet,
and started walking towards the house I was staying in for those few
months. I was alone on this particular day, as my roommate, Jamie, had
decided to linger a bit in Avignon. The small non-descript square, which
held the bus stop, led to the country road away from city traffic and
bus fumes. And I was grateful, for once, that I lived so far outside the
city.

My
surroundings were delightfully foreign to me. The pastures on the right
where sheep grazed were quartered into small, green patches of grass by
low-lying trees and tall bushes. The scent of burning leaves brought
gentle notions of fall to my senses, without accosting my nostrils. A
few large stone manors intermingled with more modern houses—the former
set back on the hill and the latter bordering the street with thick
cement fences. Just ahead on my left was a larger field with a straight
row of tall trees, dividing the space in two. Breathing in the crisp air
on this deserted road was like breathing in the spirit of adventure.

It’s
a bit long for an example, but I wanted you to see what I was talking
about. Now the readers know right off the bat that a dream was involved
in directing my steps. They know that some tragic event sent me back
there, even if my return wasn’t intentionally timed. They get a hint of
how I felt as a young student - that I was experiencing culture shock,
but that I had a taste for adventure. This will (hopefully) encourage
the reader to continue reading and find out where the adventure led me,
how the dream came into play, and what sad event led to my wishing to
return and begin telling my story. The desired result is that the reader
is kept on the edge of his seat by your life’s events.

I suppose in this way memoir-writing does not differ all that much from fiction!

At
seventeen, Jennie Goutet has a dream that she will one day marry a
French man and sets off to Avignon in search of him. Though her dream
eludes her, she lives boldly—teaching in Asia, studying in Paris,
working and traveling for an advertising firm in New York.

When
God calls her, she answers reluctantly, and must first come to grips
with depression, crippling loss, and addiction before being restored.
Serendipity takes her by the hand as she marries her French husband,
works with him in a humanitarian effort in East Africa, before settling
down in France and building a family.

Told
with honesty and strength, A Lady in France is a brave, heart- stopping
story of love, grief, faith, depression, sunshine piercing the gray
clouds—and hope that stays in your heart long after it’s finished.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Become a better person.Writing
is truth serum. All your biases come out. All your good points and your
bad points. You can’t always see your personal warts in your own
writing, but other people are likely to. Sometimes clearly—they’ll know
exactly what’s messed up about your perspective on the world. Other
times your readers just feel like something’s off without being able to
put their finger on it. But in both cases, unless they share your exact
biases, your readers will see any ugliness in your heart that you’ve
spilled out on the page. So try and work on being fair and kind to
people within your own heart before you start opening it up.

Live a better life.Your
inspirations, your reference points, and your obsessions all have to
come from your lived, direct experience. Or, second best, the lived,
direct experiences of someone you know personally. Otherwise you’re
drawing from some other writer’s interpretations. And that’s a photocopy
of a photocopy, at best.

Lower your expectations.It’ll
make you happier in general. It’ll also make you happier about your
work. It’s hard to like your book if you expect it to sell 100,000
copies and it sells 100. When you set high expectations you’re giving
your book more work to do. Suddenly your book needs to make you a lot of
money, and get you a lot of awards and prestige, and attract amazing
partners of your preferred sex, and all that external nonsense. And all
that baggage you’ve attached to the book will change your writing.
You’ll write a different book if it needs to pay your rent than if
you’re just writing from your heart. Your book only has one goal, and
that’s to connect with your heart. That’s the only expectation you
should set. That it’ll connect.

Learn some of the technical aspects of writing.Not
necessary, but it helps. Your writing just needs to communicate
clearly. If it already does, than you’re golden. If not, then brush up a
little bit on how to write effectively. You may have a few “bad habits”
that bog you down. But don’t clean up your writing too much—you want to
keep your voice.

Write a lot.Now,
the definition of “a lot” varies from person to person. Some people are
such natural communicators they can write well without a lot of
practice. Some people are just so interesting, or have such a gripping
story to tell, that their book could be scrawled illegibly on cocktail
napkins and you’d be glued to your seat reading it. But for the rest of
us, writing lots will give you a good sense of your voice, and your
thoughts. Most importantly, it will keep you from feeling scared about
writing. In my early freelance days I wrote 10,000-20,000 words a day.
It wasn’t great writing, but I put it down day after day. And I haven’t
been scared of writing since then.

Share your writing with other people.Friends
can be helpful. Especially friends who are successful enough creative
pros that they won’t feel threatened by you and your work. In that vein I
don’t recommend sharing with friends who wanted to be writers, or who
sort of fancy themselves writers but don’t really make anything. Those
people will have a hard time getting over their internal bullshit to
help you out. And any feedback they offer will come from a theoretical
place that is totally unhelpful. You’ll get your best feedback from
absolute strangers. I hire strangers off Task Rabbit to read my books
and give me honest feedback. It’s an indispensible part of my process.

Listen to what they say.If
a lot of people say the same thing about your book, then they’re right.
Especially if those people have no contact with each other or each
other’s opinions. Public reviewers are often influenced by each other.
And people who read reviews often parrot the language or tone of the
reviews they read. But strangers in isolation give feedback from a
genuine place. Listen to them. They won’t always offer helpful
suggestions on how to fix your work. But they can tell you where it
hurts.

Solve your personal problems outside of work.This
is another way of saying what I explained in number two. But it’s
important enough to drive home. Writing isn’t going to fix your life
problems. Don’t burden your writing with the need to solve your
problems. And writing isn’t therapy. When you write from your heart, you
will naturally go through emotional experiences that can be
challenging, and you may even find clarity and peace with some aspects
of your life. But there’s a big difference between writing honestly from
your heart, and treating your manuscript like a therapist’s couch.

Don’t try and model yourself on anyone else, especially on any other writer.This
one relates to number two up there. You live a better life so you have
real, direct experiences to pull from. Otherwise you’re pulling from
other writers. But there are two other warnings in here. First, don’t
try and replicate another writer’s process and expect it to work for
you. Feel free to grab elements as you tinker with your own process, but
copying Kafka’s writing process won’t make you write like Kafka.
Second, if you hold writers up to a pedestal you’ll never become one.
“Becoming a writer” will always be this lofty dream out of reach. Even
worse, when you worship authors you never get to clearly evaluate if you
even want to actually become one in the first place. You might not. I’m
still on the fence.

Relax.You’re not fighting a war here.

When
you die, your spirit wakes in the north, in the City of the Dead.
There, you wander the cold until one of your living loved ones finds
you, says "Goodbye," and Sends you to the next world.

After
her parents die, 12-year-old Sophie refuses to release their spirits.
Instead, she resolves to travel to the City of the Dead to bring her
mother and father’s spirits back home with her.

Taking
the long pilgrimage north with her gruff &amp; distant grandmother—by
train, by foot, by boat; over ruined mountains and plains and
oceans—Sophie struggles to return what death stole from her. Yet the
journey offers her many hard, unexpected lessons—what to hold on to,
when to let go, and who she must truly bring back to life.